Paper bag dispenser



April 30, 1963 D. E. HELLER 3,087,647

PAPER BAG DISPENSER Filed May 2, 1961 V 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 51 17 If Judie? llfifg/Zer ATTORNEY April 30, 1963 D. E. HELLER PAPER BAG DISPENSER Filed May 2, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVE'OR ja 221k? EEZ/er I ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,087,647 PAPER BAG DISPENSER David E. Heller, 8770 Shoreham Drive, Apt. 12,

Los Angeles 46, Calif. Filed May 2, 1961, Ser. No. 107,133 4 Claims. (Cl. 221-47) This invention relates to a paper bag dispenser and has as its primary object the provision of a dispensing mechanism whereby paper bags such as are supplied customers in market places may be dispensed one at a time.

It is now common practice in public markets to arrange stacks of loose paper bags in open compartments accessible to customers or clerks who may reach into a compartment and extract one or any number of the bags there from. It frequently happens that, in extracting a bag or bags, unwanted bags are pulled from the stack. These are seldom replaced but are allowed to fall onto the floor or are placed on a counter and sometimes on top of displays of products. This ordinarily necessitates consumption of time on the part of clerks or attendants in gathering up the discarded bags and replacing them in appropriate compartments, there being a number of compartments or bins to accommodate bags of various sizes.

By the use of the invention the above recited objectionable practice is eliminated.

The paper bags to be dispensed are normally collapsed to extend fiatwise with the bottoms of the bags folded relative to their sides so that a portion of the bottom of each bag will overlie a side of the folded fiat intermediate part thereof in the form of a flap. This flap is utilized in the present dispenser as a hand-hold in effecting manual removal of the uppermost bag of a stack thereof.

In the merchandising of such bags they are commonly packaged in stacks wherein the bags are superimposed in groups with the bags in each group disposed with their folded bottoms arranged overlying relation to each other, and wherein adjacent superimposed groups of the bags are disposed in alternate end to end arrangement, whereby a number of bags in a stack will have their bottom ends presented opposite the bottom ends of other of the bags. This alternate arrangement of the bags in the stack serves to dispose the uppermost bag of the stack in a substantially horizontal position, whereas, if a considerable number of bags were to be arranged in a stack with their bottom ends disposed at one side only of the stack the uppermost bag will be inclined longitudinally by reason of the height or thickness of the folded ends of the assemblage of bags exceeding the height of the superimposed opposite ends of the bags.

Having the foregoing recited conditions in mind, a further object of the invention is to provide a bag dispenser wherein alternately end to end arranged bags in a stack thereof may be readily extracted from either of opposedends of a fixed dispenser according to which of such ends the folded bottom of the bag is presented.

With the foregoing objects in view together with such other objects and advantages as may subsequently appear the invention resides in the parts, construction and combination of parts and in equivalents thereof as described in the following specification, defined in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the upper portion of 3,087,647 Patented Apr. 30, 1963 the bag dispenser depicting the mode of operation thereof;

FIG. 2 is a plan view;

FIG. 3 is a view in section and elevation as seen on the line 33 of FIG. 2 with portions broken away;

FIG. 4 is a view in cross section as seen on the line 4--4 of FIG. 3 in the direction indicated by the arrows with portions of the bags removed;

FIG. 5 is a detail in horizontal section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view in vertical section and elevation as seen on the line 6-6 of FIG. 4; and FIG. 7 is a detail in horizontal section as seen on the line 77 of FIG. 3.

Referring to the drawings more specifically A indicates generally a rectangular box-like housing embodying side walls 88, end walls 9-9 and a bottom wall 10 onwhich the side and end walls are erected, the side and end walls being arranged to form a bag receptacle of rectangular cross section. The housing A has an opening at its upper end bordered by the margins of the side and end walls 88 and 99 for the reception and removal of paper bags. The housing is designed to receive a stack of flat folded or collapsed paper bags B which are rectangular with their margins substantially conforming to the inner faces of the side and end walls of the housing; the stack of bags B being supported on a verticallymoving rectangular panel 11 the margins of which are.

spaced from the inner faces of the walls 8-8 and 9=9 to afford a clearance between the panel and the said walls and allow free movement of the panel relative to the housing.

The panel 11 is supported on and afiixed to a pair of spaced transversely extending slide bars 1212 the end portions of which project through vertically extending slots 14 14 in the side panels 8-8 which slots extend upward from the bottom wall 10 and terminate on a plane spaced downwardly from the upper margins of the side walls 8-8. Erected in the slots 14 are guide rods 15 which pass vertically through the slide bars 12 in slidable relation thereto, the guide rods 15 being atfixed at their lower ends in the bottom wall 10 and engaged at their upper ends in the side walls 8-8 at the upper ends of the slots 14.

Spring means are provided for advancing the panel 11 upwardly, which means is here shown as comprising conventional spring actuated reels 16 mounted in housings 17 and having metal ribbons 18 wound thereon the outer ends of which are connected by couplings 19 to the outer ends of the slide bars 12; the reels 16 being actuated by coil springs urging rotation of the reels in a direction to wind the ribbons 18 thereon in a usual manner whereby an upward pull is exerted on the slide bars 12 and panel 11 urging the stack of bags thereon in an upward direction, that is, toward the open side of the housing.

Means are provided for releasably holding the stack of bags B in a depressed position in opposition to the spring actuated reels 16. This means is here shown as embodying spring pressed abutment rollers 20 carried on the inner faces of the end walls 99 adjacent the free margins thereof mediate the side walls 8-8 and disposed to bear on the upper faces of the marginal portions of the opposite ends of the uppermost bag B, as particularly shown in FIG. 3.

Each of the rollers 20 is mounted on a yoke 21 moveable vertically in a housing 22 and fitted with a guide stem 23 around which is wound a spring 24 bearing between the yoke 21 and the top wall of the housing 22 and exerting a downward thrust on the yoke 21 and roller 20'. The housings 22 are fixed on the end walls 99.

Projecting from the inner faces of the side walls 88 to overlie and engage the upper faces of the side margins of the uppermost bag B in the stack thereof is a pair of spaced fixed abutments D each of which embodies a cylindrical shell 25 having an open outer end in which is mounted a ball 26 normally projecting from the shell 25 under the urge of a spring 27 as particularly shown in FIG. the roller 26 being revolubly supported in the shell 25.

The abutments D project from said side walls with the ends of the abutments on one side wall spaced opposite the ends of the abutments on the other side wall a distance less than the distance between the side margins of the bags B to be engaged by said abutments.

The bags B are designed to be passed from either the outer or inner sides of the abutments D by urging the side margins of a bag or groups of bags past the outer ends of said abutments D, such being done both in delivering bags into the receptacle in charging the latter and in extracting the bags therefrom.

The housings 17 of the spring reels 16 are carried on ledges 31 mounted on the outer faces of the side walls 8 and which ledges have openings 32 through which the downwardly extending end portions of the ribbons 18 extend.

The bags B are each characterized by being collapsed into a fiat panel and in having its bottom end folded so that a portion thereof will form a flap 28 normally overlying the contiguous side portion of the bag. The folded bottom end of the bag imparts greater thickness to such bottom end of the bag than that of the outer end of the bag, so that, in order to render a stack of the bags of corresponding height at opposite ends of the bags, it is customary to alternate adjacent bags or groups of bags end for end, so that a number of the bags will have their bottom ends extending in one direction with other of the bags arranged with their bottom ends extending in the opposite direction.

In the operation of the invention a stack of the bags B of any suitable number is seated on the panel 11, the stack being forced downwardly under manual pressure past the rollers 20 and abutments D thereby lowering the panel 11 in opposition to the springs of the reels 16, the stack of bags and pane-l 11 being thus depressed until the uppermost bag underlies and is engaged by the rollers 20 and abutments D as indicated in FIG. 4. In thus delivering the bags into the receptacle the rollers 26 on the projecting ends of the abutments D present a revolving spherical surface to the marginal portions and edges of the bags engaged by the abutments D as such portions are urged past said abutments, thereby facilitating passage of a stack of bags past the abutments D and minimizing, if not obviating mutilation of the edges of the bags while being forced over the abutments D in loading the housing or extracting the bags therefrom. When the bags are thus disposed in the housing, the abutments D engage the side margins of the uppermost bag adjacent to but apart from the outer margin of the flap 28 irrespective of the direction in which the bottom end of the outermost bag is presented.

When it is desired to extract a bag B the upwardly inclined flap portion 28 of the outermost bag is grasped between the thumb and fingers of the hand and pulled upwardly as indicated in FIGS. 1 and 3. The pull thus applied to the bag withdraws it out of engagement with the rollers 20 and abutments D free of the stack thereby exposing the succeeding bag in position for extraction.

On thus withdrawing the bag from the receptacle the bottom portion 30 of the bag is initially pulled free of the adjacent abutment roller 20 followed by the side margins of the bag passing over the rollers 26 of the abutments D which rollers 26, being spherical and revoluble facilitate the passage of the side margins of the bag outwardly over the abutments D with a minimum of resistance. Upon the bag being disengaged from the abutments D, the outer end of the bag may be readily withdrawn from engagement by the adjacent abutment roller 20 thus freeing the bag and permitting its removal from the open side of the housing.

By the provision of complementary bag engaging rollers 20 on the opposite ends 9-9 of the housing A together with the opposed pairs of abutments DD on the sides 88 of the housing with the abutments DD arranged to engage the side edges of the uppermost bag apart from the flap 28, the dispenser is adapted to dispensing individual bags from stacks of bags containing bags having oppositely presented folded bottoms, thus obviating having to exercise care in arranging the bags with their folded ends presented to one end only of the dispenser.

It will now be seen that the bags B can only be removed from the dispenser one at a time thereby obviating the removal of unwanted bags from the stack thereof.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, the invention embodies such modifications and equivalents as come within the meaning and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A paper bag dispenser embodying a housing having side and end Walls arranged to form a receptacle of rectangular cross section and having a discharge opening bordered by said side and end Walls, a bag supporting panel within said housing extending in parallel relation to said discharge opening and bodily moveable toward and away therefrom, a pair of spaced slide bars extending longitudinally across said housing adjacent said panel on which said panel is mounted, guide means in said housing slidably engaging said slide bars, spring actuated means on said housing side walls connected to end portions of said slide bars adapted to normally advance said slide bars and panel toward the open end of said housing to thereby advance a plurality of folded collapsed paper bags collected together face to face in a stack on said panel, an abutment roller on each end Wall of said housing intermediate said side walls and adapted to overlie and abut the adjacent end of the outermost bag in the stack thereof on said panel, and a pair of spaced abutments on each of the side walls of said housing arranged to overlie and abut the side margins of the outermost bag in the stack with one of said pair of abutments disposed adjacent to but apart from the folded bottom end of said outermost bag.

2. The structure called for in claim 1, in which the abutments on said side Walls project therefrom with the ends of the abutments on one side wall spaced from the ends of the abutments on the other side wall a distance less than the distance between the side margins of the bags to be engaged by said side wall abutments, said side wall abutments being adapted to permit the side marginal portions of bags to be urged past said abutments both in delivering bags into said receptacle and extracting them therefrom.

3. A paper bag dispenser embodying a housing having side and end walls arranged to form a receptacle of rectangular cross section and having a combined intake and discharge opening bordered by said side and end walls, a paper bag receiving and supporting panel within said receptacle extending perpendicular to said side and end walls and bodily moveable toward and away from said opening, spring means on said housing connected to said panel normally urging said panel toward said opening to advance with said panel a stack of folded paper 'bags seated thereon, abutments comprising rotatable members, turnably mounted in bearings fixed on each of said side and end walls interiorly of said receptacle adjacent said opening against which abutment-s the end and side margins of the outermost bag of the stack thereof are urged by said spring means, the bag being urged against the rotatable members of at least the abutments on the end walls; the outer ends of said side Wall abutments being adapted to have the side margins of bags urged thereover both in delivering bags into said receptacle and in extracting the bags therefirom.

4. The structure called for in claim 3 in which the rotata'ble members of the abutments on said side Walls are spherical and adapted to roll on engagement therewith of the side margins of bags imposed thereon and urged past said spherical members into or out of said housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 663,726 Carlen Dec. 11, 1900 6 Lutterman Apr. 9, 1907 Korth Apr. 8, 1924 Hansen Aug. 18, 1925 Carlson et a1 Apr. 20, 1926 Shaffer et al Aug. 30, 1932 Shafer June 30, 1936 Nicodemus Feb. 2, 1937 Norris May 26, 1942 Eastman Feb. 20, 1945 Kinney May 27, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS France Ian. 19, 1911 France Mar. 30, 1942 

1. A PAPER BAG DISPENSER EMBODYING A HOUSING HAVING SIDE AND END WALLS ARRANGED TO FORM A RECEPTACLE OF RECTANGULAR CROSS SECTION AND HAVING A DISCHARGE OPENING BORDERED BY SAID SIDE AND END WALLS, A BAG SUPPORTING PANEL WITHIN SAID HOUSING EXTENDING IN PARALLEL RELATION TO SAID DISCHARGE OPENING AND BODILY MOVEABLE TOWARD AND AWAY THEREFROM, A PAIR OF SPACED SLIDE BARS EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY ACROSS SAID HOUSING ADJACENT SAID PANEL ON WHICH SAID PANEL IS MOUNTED, GUIDE MEANS IN SAID HOUSING SLIDABLY ENGAGING SAID SLIDE BARS, SPRING ACTUATED MEANS ON SAID HOUSING SIDE WALLS CONNECTED TO END PORTIONS OF SAID SLIDE BARS ADAPTED TO NORMALLY ADVANCE SAID SLIDE BARS AND PANEL TOWARD THE OPEN END OF SAID HOUSING TO THEREBY ADVANCE A PLURALITY OF FOLDED COLLAPSED PAPER BAGS COLLECTED TOGETHER FACE TO FACE IN A STACK ON SAID PANEL, AN ABUTMENT ROLLER ON EACH END WALL OF SAID HOUSING INTERMEDIATE SAID SIDE WALLS AND ADAPTED TO OVERLIE AND ABUT THE ADJACENT END OF THE OUTERMOST BAG IN THE STACK THEREOF ON SAID PANEL, AND A PAIR OF SPACED ABUTMENTS ON EACH OF THE SIDE WALLS OF SAID HOUSING ARRANGED TO OVERLIE AND ABUT THE SIDE MARGINS OF THE OUTERMOST BAG IN THE STACK WITH ONE OF SAID PAIR OF ABUTMENTS DISPOSED ADJACENT TO BUT APART FROM THE FOLDED BOTTOM END OF SAID OUTERMOST BAG. 